1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to moving picture encoding techniques suitable for use in an information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a personal computer provided with a software encoder for encoding moving pictures by software has begun to be popularized. Moreover, the H. 264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) standard has recently drawn attention as a next-generation moving picture compression encoding technique. The H. 264/AVC standard relates to higher-efficiency compression encoding techniques than conventional equivalents, such as MPEG 2 or MPEG 4. For this reason, in an encoding process conforming to the H. 264/AVC standard, a larger amount of processing is needed than in conventional compression encoding techniques, such as MPEG2 or MPEG4. With this backdrop, various proposals to decrease the amount of moving picture encoding have been made (e.g., refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-346216).
Since a motion estimation process can select a plurality of reference frames even in the encoding process complying with the H. 264/AVC standard, the number of times block matching is done to detect the optimum motion vector increases in proportion to the number of frames as compared with the conventional compression encoding techniques. Accordingly, in a software encoder that operates on a personal computer (where other software may run in parallel), a mechanism that adaptively skips a motion estimation process according to, for example, the load on the processor or the like has been desired strongly.